12.24.2023 PM Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 2023

12/24/2023

Christmas Eve 2023

Who is Christmas for?

Christmas Eve is here!

There are many celebrations and services going on all over the world this evening. Some are celebrating time-honored family traditions passed down over the generations. There are families celebrating in the snow and others celebrating on the beach. My family used to gather around the dinner table, eating Chinese food. That idea came from A Christmas Story - no, not the one about Jesus, the one about the Red-Rider BB Gun.

We are joined by thousands who are gathering tonight in special church services, singing praise to God with both new and old songs sung in hundreds of languages. With all of these things going on all at once, it makes me wonder who Christmas is for. Who was Jesus born for?

It doesn’t matter where you start.

It doesn’t matter where you start with Jesus. We have heard several gospel readings this evening. Matthew begins with Mary and Joseph. Luke starts with Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Mark skips over the birth story altogether, while John takes us back to the beginning of time and the world's creation. When God planned the birth of Jesus, He cast the net far and wide, pulling people together in some miraculous ways centuries before that Holy Night in Bethlehem.

One of those beginnings was a very simple one. One young couple was expecting a baby. It was one of the most ordinary events you could expect, yet it was filled with challenges. For one, the baby Mary carried came from God, not from her and her husband. Every child is a miracle in their own way, but this was something new. Most people did not understand it, and it took angel visits to Mary and Joseph before they could accept it themselves. But with some gentle nudges from God, they both stepped out of the shadows into this story that God had been telling since the beginning.

They were simple, ordinary people who said yes to God and had their lives turned upside down. Childbirth was never easy, but they had to travel away from home during the time Jesus was born. If the way was safe, it would have been about a 3-day journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. When they finally got there, the places for visitors were full, so they ended up with the livestock in a manger. The only convenience in this journey was that baby Jesus waited for them to arrive in Bethlehem before He was born into our world.

Jesus was born to them and would change their lives forever... but He was not only born for them.

There, in the background, the angels are busy at work. Like stagehands, they get these characters in their places, guiding them each step of the way. Mary and Joseph heard from their angel, and as they arrived in Bethlehem, other angels went out to gather the shepherds from the fields, like wandering sheep gathered into the fold with the Good Shepherd.

They come from close by — innocent bystanders welcomed out of the shadows into the warm glow of this manger scene. We have no names for them, yet they are the first evangelists who will spread the word of the birth of the Messiah over the hills and across the nation. These men and women, considered unclean by virtue of their vocation, who would not have been allowed into the Temple, became the mouthpieces of God.

Jesus was born to redeem these people on the fringe of society, often left out in the cold. Jesus joined them and shared what little light and warmth He had with them... but He was not born only for these shepherds.

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It matters where you end.

The Wise men came from farthest away. They had wealth and knowledge and the respect of their people. These men had reached the heights of human experience and were set to live the rest of their days managing it well and passing it along to their children. Then they looked up and saw a star shining in the heavens that had not been there the night before.

That star stirred their hearts and minds with the notion of the birth of a greater king than they had ever known. The emperor of Rome ruled everything from Southern Europe across the Middle East and most of Northern Africa. Yet this star promised the birth of one even greater — a King of kings and Lord of lords. Rather than gathering up their armies to protect themselves from this new king, they gathered up their treasures, left their homes, and journeyed West to meet and greet this newborn Prince of Heaven.

They left everything to come and see the Savior of the Jews, Who would save their people, too. They came and discovered that Jesus was also born to them... but not only for them.

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God always finds a way of bringing strange people together and making something beautiful with them. Our families have enjoyed working on puzzles during the holidays, and several years back, we had a puzzle of a nativity scene made up of unique puzzle pieces. Instead of the standard blanks and tabs you think of when you imagine puzzle pieces, these pieces all had irregular shapes. Some looked like angels with trumpets, others looked like animals, and many were unique shapes that tied vaguely to the theme of this manger scene. If you saw them all lying in a pile together, you might not have believed they could fit into such a beautiful picture, and it was quite a challenge to find each of their places. But we eventually did.

God does that with us all the time. He puts Jesus in the center of us, the first light, as John tells us in his gospel, and He sends that light through each one of us that reaches out to Him. It doesn’t matter if we come out of the darkness as simple people minding their own business or outcasts from society who watch with sorrow and envy at those who seem to have everything they need. It doesn’t matter if you come from near or far if you are respected or neglected if you are praised or despised... Jesus was born for you.

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Everlasting Life

But He wasn’t born only for you. He was born for everyone.

John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son and that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That everlasting life is not something you get as a certificate, like a prize for winning a competition or a graduation diploma. It is not a trophy or precious item you take home and put away in a glass case to keep safe. Everlasting life is different from getting a million dollars that you must put in your bank, and be careful not to spend all at once.

Everlasting life is like God asking you to give up your bank account because He has put your name on His. But it is far more than money.

Before that silent and holy night, God never had to worry about anything. He was life itself, and all light and love and life came from him. But that night, He came to us as an infant child, and as the cool night air touched his skin for the first time, he had to breathe. The God who created the world with his breath, words, and voice now had to breathe just to live. The voice that carved out the mountain ranges cried for the warmth of a mother’s touch. The Word of God that designed a perfect universe became flesh to reach out and touch that world that we broke and to share His eternal life with us as we shared our brokenness with Him.

That life is a relationship that comes to us through words, deeds, touches, gifts, and time spent together with Him. While we are not always faithful to love Him, He is always faithful to love us. He is more than enough. His love, light, and life He shares with us never end.

So, as we gather this evening to receive that love, that life, and that light from the centerpiece of Creation, this Holy Child Jesus, born in the manger, come and find your place. It doesn’t matter where you started. It only matters that you end here with Him.

COMMUNION

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. The pastor may lift hands and keep them raised.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to you,

Father Almighty (almighty God), creator of heaven and earth.

You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,

and spoke to us through your prophets.

In the fullness of time

you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior,

and at his birth the angels sang

glory to you in the highest and peace to your people on earth.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

As Mary and Joseph went from Galilee to Bethlehem

and there found no room,

so Jesus went from Galilee to Jerusalem and was despised and rejected.

As in the poverty of a stable Jesus was born,

so by the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

As your Word became flesh, born of woman, on that night long ago,

so, on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread,

gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,

one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,

all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God ), now and for ever.

Amen.

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

We are filled with joy for we have heard good news of great joy.

We are filled with love for we have tasted the sign of God’s great love.

We are filled with hope for the angels still sing in our world and there is a Light for us to follow.

(Lights are dimmed for the passing of the light)

THE PASSING OF THE LIGHT